Hitting .335 as a team in 2001, the 701ers sported 7 players with a .300 average or better led by Mike Andrews and his team leading .412. However, the real team MVP was Charlie Archinal who went 10-2 with a 2.08 era in 84 inning.
Charlie allowed only 62 hits in his 84 innings pitched while walking but 7 and striking out 74. As if 10 games won wasn't enough, Charlie did it twice, going undefeated in 2003 at 10-0 with a 1.78 era. No other Post pitcher has gotten more than 6 wins. Nyle Nelson got 6 twice. Charlie went 7-1 in his rookie Post year in 1998.
As was stated earlier, Mike Andrews won the first of his two batting titles hitting .412. However, the best run producer by far was Rich Auricchio. While hitting .385 (good for second on the team), Rich knocked in 17 and scored 9 accounting for 26 runs. Scott Brennan was second in runs produced with 20. He did this with only 3 ribbys, but an amazing 20 runs scored which accounted for 22% of the teams 91 total runs scored in 2001. In his 14 year Post career, Scott has won the team batting title 5 times, was the hit leader 4 times and is tied with Bobby Lopuch in runs scored, doing it 5 times. Scott has led the team in rbis twice. The team leader in rbis is Rich Auricchio who did it an amazing 6 times.
Rich led the team in hits (15), rbis (17), triples (2), homers (1) and sac flies (3). The also had an on base average of .458 in 2001 and in his 9 seasons as a full time player, his on base average was .458 or better 7 times.
There were only two 701ers with 10+ rbis, as compared to the 6 players who did it in 2010. Second on the team in ribbys was the always clutch clean up hitter Billy McCord. Affectionately known to his teammates as Billy Mac, McCord hit .361 for the year with 10 rbis. Billy only played 8 years as a member of the Post but in that time he hit .418 and struck out only 8 times. It is also interesting to note that Billy did not strike out in his first 4 years.
2001 was Greg Sawitzki's rookie year in a Post uniform. Greg hit .353 that year and went on to hit .368 in a 7 year Post career including 67 rbis. Greg was third in ribbys in '01 with 9.
Two greybeards had exceptional seasons in 2001. Ray Fyfe was third on the club in hitting, batting .367 with a team leading .611 on base average. In only 30 at bats, Ray scored 6 while knocking in 6. Gavin Murdoch hit .333 that year, good for 6th and had an on base average of .500, second behind Fyfe. In his limited playing time, Gavin scored 5 and knocked in 5.
Check out the following links in a look back at the 2001 season. By the way, the Post won the Western Division Championship but lost in the AA finals. They would, however, win their only championship the following year in 2002. The 2001 playoff stats can be seen by clicking on 2001 Playoff Stats. The write up in the semi-final game can be seen by clicking on Tumans win and the opening round win against Emerald Cinema can be opened by clicking on Emerald win.
